Owing to the development of the electronic communication industry, an electronic device, such as a mobile communication terminal (e.g., a smart phone), an electronic scheduler, a personal complex terminal, a Television (TV), a laptop computer, and the like, is becoming a necessity to modern society while becoming a significant means for delivery of rapidly changing information. Commonly, this electronic device came to make a user's work convenient through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) environment using a touch screen, and provide various multimedia based on a Web environment.
The aforementioned electronic device is developing to perform various supplementary functions while using a voice recognition function capable of performing a preset operation by recognizing a user's voice even when a user does not directly input a specific command to the electronic device through a separate key input (i.e., a touch input, a button input, or the like) as one way of data input, and is racing to increase a voice recognition rate.
Generally, the electronic device came to have a microphone module equipped with at least one microphone unit for collecting a user's voice for the sake of voice recognition. Besides the voice recognition function, this microphone module is being used even as an apparatus capable of housing a user's voice when a user talks with a called party by a speaker phone function.
For example, the microphone module applied to the electronic device, such as a mobile terminal, has one microphone unit installed in the front of the electronic device and the other one microphone unit in the rear of the electronic device. The microphone unit installed in the front can be used as a main microphone unit for directly receiving a user's voice, and the microphone unit installed in the rear can be used as a sub microphone unit for attenuating surrounding noises other than an input voice.
In general, the microphone module is able to receive an external voice or sound through a voice collection hole (also known as a “microphone hole”) of a constant shape that is provided in a case frame of the electronic device. Accordingly, the microphone module has been installed in various positions of the case frame so as to effectively collect the external voice and/or sound.
However, this construction in which a plurality of microphone holes are provided in the case frame of the electronic device causes a problem of not only damaging an appearance of the electronic device but also deteriorating the performance of the electronic device at the time of using a multiple microphone module.
Therefore, a need exists for a microphone module for an electronic device having an improved appearance and preventing performance deterioration.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.